Fatherhood
by DrawingFlowers
Summary: Ino goes out shopping with her friends leaving Sai to take care of Inojin on his own. Sai's parenting skills are put to the test without his wife there to hold his hand for the first time.
1. Chapter 1

**Fatherhood:**

 **A/N:** Hi guys, this is the first ever fanficition I have wrote and it revolves around Saiino/Yamanaka family. It is set in the canon universe around the time when Boruto's generation are young children (around 4 years old). Although English is not my first language, I have proof read/tried my best to not make spelling or grammar errors. Hope you enjoy!

 _Summary: Ino goes out shopping with her friends leaving Sai to take care of Inojin on his own. Sai's parenting skills are put to the test without his wife there to hold his hand for the first time._

It was a warm summers morning in the hidden leaf as the residents of the Yamanaka family had slowly woken up to make there way to breakfast.

For the first time in what felt like months, their family flower shop would be shut so they could all take the day off. Even though they were currently in times of peace and the number of shinobi missions had been increasingly dwindling, the Yamanaka's were still running their flower business as was tradition for a number of generations of their main clan family which meant most days were still busy for them unlike some of their closest friends.

Since the end of the war, flower sales had boomed, with people finally able to decorate their homes or even gift loved ones with various flowers as they no longer lived in a world with the fear of war or destruction which meant flowers and plants could be preserved and cared for by everyone.

Sai had made the decision for his wife to take the day off for once from the store and Sai did so too from his own job which Ino eagerly agreed to. She had often quietly complained how she never gets to go out with her friends much due to balancing running their business and taking care of their four year old son.

Sai was happy she could finally have a girl's day out as he once read in a book long ago that a women who goes out with her friends is a lot less moodier once she gets home and boy had she been becoming a lot more moodier and the sight of a less than happy Ino certainly made Sai a lot less happy and being cooped up in their flower shop all day, everyday certainly wasn't healthy for such an extrovert like his wife.

This way Ino could have fun out in Konoha with her girls, he could relax at home on his own and then by the end of the night he was sure the two of them could think of something they could enjoy doing together in the bedroom once she returned all excited from doing whatever girls enjoyed doing.

...

At the dining table in the kitchen sat Sai, still in his pyjamas eagerly sipping on the coffee his wife had just fixed for him in the early hours of the morning. Just to his right in a flower emblazoned chair sat what could only be described as a miniature blonde version of Sai dressed in an adorable blue onsie. He was growing faster and faster each day and was able to talk quite well already.

Sai watched his son sip on a cup of milk Ino had prepared whilst he waltz through the pages of the Daily Leaf Newspaper that had been delivered just before he woke this morning. "Sai, theres milk in the fridge and I've laid out the ingredients needed to make Inojin's food so that should last Inojin the rest of the day whilst I'm out" Ino said which caused Sai to respond with a confused face. "So you're not taking Inojin with you?" Sai responded. "Of course not! Me, Hinata and Sakura are going to go shopping, followed by tea and then finish the day with a beauty therapy session with Lady Tsunade, Inojin can't come with me to a girl's day out like that"

Sai became even more confused, this meant that he'd be taking care of Inojin on his own and that is something he's never done as of yet. Ino was the one always at home looking after their son whilst she was simultaneously working in their flower shop whereas due to being in charge of the Leaf's investigation and interrogation unit, a position he took over from Ino's father Inoichi after his tragic passing in the war many years ago, Sai was working from 9 till 5 alongside the Hokage Naruto. The only time Sai therefore was looking after his son was when he would return from work after 5 or on the weekends but his wife was always there with him during those times.

"Don't worry dear just copy what we do when we are taking care of him together but this time it'll just be you with him, its not exactly rocket science!" Ino exclaimed, however Sai was not convinced, when they were taking care of Inojin together, Ino would still be the one to prepare the food to feed him, she changed his diapers when he was a baby and toilet trained him, soothed him when he cried or scolded him when he was being naughty. Sai's role consisted of handing Ino the food, throwing away the diapers, hiding when Inojin cries and laughing when he was naughty. Sai was beginning to think he was finally going to realise how much work his wife does in taking care of their son.

Ino began getting ready in their bedroom to head out as Sai sat in the living room with Inojin on his lap as they both watched the cartoons that his son seemed to love. Sai began thinking 'surely taking care of him on my own isn't going to be that scary right?' Sai thought for a second that maybe they could just sit and watch cartoons all day until Ino comes home in the evening but even he wasn't that stupid to realise that it simply wasn't going to be that easy.

Inojin was an eating and pooping machine and Sai didn't have to think hard to quickly remember back to how many times a day Ino would have to change the tiny blonde's diaper when he was still a baby and the intricate movements she would perform to remove the old one and replace with the new one. Not to mention all the healthy kids' food she would make from scratch to feed him to make sure he grew up big and strong just like his grandpa. Inojin still wasnt great at using the toilet so Sai had to be careful about what to feed him if he wanted to avoid a mess in their bathroom.

Sai mentally cursed how he wished he didn't get rid of all those reading books he once possessed back when he first joined team 7 in order to understand bonds and relationships, he was sure he probably had some that revolved around childcare that would have proved handy right about now. But once he entered into a relationship with Ino following the great ninja war he promised her he would get rid of them so she could get to know the real him rather than a man following what a book tells him, something which he knew he ultimately loved her for doing.

Inojin clapped along to the singing cartoon bear on the TV and his soft giggles were like butter melting to Sai's ears, as Ino walked down the stairs dressed in her casual purple outfit she wore most of the time she made some last minute checks to make sure her husband knew where all the food and milk were before she gave a kiss to her sons nose and one to her husbands lips.

Sakura and Hinata had arrived outside the Yamanaka residence and so Ino departed leaving only Sai and Inojin in the house. Sai braced himself, he hoped that everything would work out for the rest of the day but he knew his son could be a little devil just like the stories Sai heard from Ino's mother about when his wife was a child and he had a funny feeling today was going to be just one of those days.

 **A/N:** Just a short introductory chapter laying the foundation for all of Inojins/Sai antics in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Fatherhood chapter 2: Dreams and awful soup**

It had not been long since Ino had left the house on her day out with Sakura and Hinata, leaving Sai and Inojin in the living room watching television together. They were currently watching a popular children's cartoon involving a group of fictional superheroes fighting an evil monster, it was a cartoon that Inojin would watch semi regularly with his father when he would get home from work as long as he wasn't too tired.

Although Sai struggled to understand why someone could possibly enjoy watching a show which he found quite mundane especially compared to the missions he would regularly take as a teenager, seeing Inojin giggle and attempt to intensely keep up with the on screen action gave him a warm sensation in his heart.

These were the moments with his son that he cherished most and wished they would never end. However, Sai's job often meant the opportunities to be able to relax with his son like this were few and far between and no where near as frequent as he would have liked.

Sai had been working at the Leafs interrogation and torture force where he was captain for a number of years now and was often working alongside the infamous commanding officer Ibiki Morino. Sai took over the role from Ino's father due to his background as an elite ANBU ninja, his skill in interrogation and as well as because the Yamanaka clan higher ups desired to keep the senior level job within their clan.

However, the job often meant he spent most days carrying out various techniques which were often gory in a dark underground room when Leaf shinobi would capture criminals who required torture to prevent the village's secrets being out and used by rouge shinobi.

Although Sai's violent techniques were no where near the gruesome level of his commander Ibiki, his training with ANBU from his childhood meant he was not ablest to using such violent methods which was one of the main reasons why Sai refused to allow Ino herself to take the job and instead volunteered himself due to knowing her general discomfort with torture methods and interrogation.

Such a job meant Sai would often work from morning till evening and even some late nights which meant he was not able to be with his family as regularly as he would have liked. He began to realise he needed to savour such moments and time together with his son as Inojin was getting older day by day and it would only be a few more years till his son would enter the ninja academy like his mother and their childhood friends did.

Sai never attended the academy himself due to being a war orphan and being brainwashed into removing all his emotions so he could work more effectively for ROOT, a branch of ANBU which was considered at the time one of the Leafs dirty secrets. Sai's main dream was for his son to have a much different life than the one he did.

Sai wanted Inojin to be able to form intimate bonds by making many friends and to be able to express himself unlike his own life where in his teens after he became free from Danzo, he still struggled emotionally and often came across as cold and distant. He had hopes that Inojin would grow and be as expressive and extroverted as his mother was rather than a stoic man like himself. Sai had often heard from his wife about how popular and cool she was considered back in her academy days, although this fact was often objected by the likes of Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji.

Nonetheless, Sai had no trouble believing Ino was as amazing when she was young as her stories about herself made her out to be and hoped Inojin would take after her in terms of personality so he could have a much more enjoyable childhood rather than one like his which was filled with sadness and trauma.

As Sai continued to muse about his own life and Inojin's future, a sudden vibration could be felt on his lap as the sound of rumbling could be heard coming from Inojin's stomach. It had been an hour or so since the Yamanaka's had woken to eat breakfast but despite the relatively short time that had passed, Inojin's appetite was often large and furious, something which he had certainly not inherited from his mother.

Sai looked down at the young Yamanaka placed on his lap and a red tint immediately grew on Inojin's pale cheeks which brought a giant grin onto Sai's face. 'Beautiful... just like his mother' Sai thought to himself.

"Inojin are you hungry?" Sai asked his son needlessly. Inojin nodded his head in a quick manner before dropping himself from Sai's lap. The tiny blonde was able to speak well and profoundly but just like his father he often only spoke when required, although this certainly didn't mean he was innocent and angelic like in his words when he did speak as his adorable face would mistakenly suggest.

He had a very mischievous and cunning side to him which Ino was convinced he had been picking up from watching Sai. The idea that Inojin was developing his personality from watching him gave Sai a warm feeling in his heart no matter how many times he would try to convince himself he didn't want his son to grow up to be like him.

In the middle of his thoughts, Sai leapt from his seat and reached out his hand to the child before guiding him to the kitchen. "Your mother said she left some ingredients in the kitchen, lets see what I can cook up for you" Sai said as Inojin responded with his trademark smile he inherited from Sai. The two proceeded into the Kitchen where the tableware used for breakfast was still laying out as Ino didn't have the time to wash up before she rushed out.

Inojin climbed onto his chair before questioning his father "You've never made me lunch before dad, do you even know how to cook?" Sai turned around to flash his son a smile before proceeding to look at the ingredients Ino had left in their fridge.

It was true, the cooking in their home was often left to Ino but that didn't mean Sai was completely useless in the kitchen or so he thought. Upon reflection, Sai couldn't actually remember the last time he cooked a meal that wasn't _instant ready rations_ which he would prepare on long distance missions.

He could vaguely recall cooking up a 3 course meal when he had his third date with Ino at his home years ago but he remembered receiving a lot of help and guidance from Sakura in preparing it as the pink head knew her blonde best friends taste buds inside out.

Nonetheless Sai decided that he should probably get started and the worst case scenario would be he could slap some lettuce in-between bread and call that lunch to give to the tiny blonde. But as Sai had a ponder through the various ingredients Ino had left behind, for the life of him he couldn't make out what on earth any of these were.

She had bought a bunch of groceries earlier in the week and had placed them all individually into labelled containers, clearly in preparation so Sai could know what each thing was for when she went out. But all this meant was that Sai could identify the names of all the ingredients but had no clue how he was suppose to make lunch with them.

Ino was constantly dieting and always tried to make sure her husband and son were also eating as healthily as possible when they were at home. This meant she would continually be cooking up meals that Sai could only imagine gluttons like Naruto and Choji would vomit at the sight of. They were green, healthy and not very appetising but it made Ino happy if they all ate it together as a family and if it was good for their health he couldn't exactly complain about it. Only now was he beginning to appreciate how much effort she must have been putting into making meals using these ingredients.

"Avocado.., aubergines..., quintal..., houmous..., lentils... WHAT ON EARTH ARE THESE" Sai screamed in his head.

Sai's food palette was rather basic, the most complicated thing he would ever make himself to eat was tofu and so the items in their kitchen seemed almost alien like to him. He once again turned around to look at his son who began to look a lot more visibly frustrated that he still hadn't received his lunch yet which caused Sai to begin to panic. There wasn't even any bread for him to mock up a sandwich by combining it with a bunch of the green things that Ino had left which he presumed were some sought of vegetable.

"Inojin... what does your mother normally make you for lunch" Sai asked although he doubted his son would have any idea what meals consisting of these bizarre ingredients would be called. "Yesterday mom made me soup for lunch" Inojin replied. "Soup huh..." Sai responded, although it was not as specific as he would have liked, at least he had some sort of idea now of what he's suppose to be making using these ingredients.

Sai rolled up his sleeves as he began preparing some sort of soup which he could only hope tasted somewhat edible. Inojin began to watch his father curiously, almost in star struck admiration as the raven haired man effortlessly threw various vegetables, spices and what looked like meat which resembled something that would come from an alien's foot all into a massive pot on top of the stove.

"Inojin, I think you're really going to like this. It's a Yamanaka secret recipe, I learnt how to make this unique soup from your grandmother" Sai said. He hoped if he tried some pre meal psychology on his son to make him think that he had made something that was an amazing recipe, then somehow his son might actually enjoy it rather than the actual fact that he just threw the least weird looking ingredients into the pot and hoped for the best.

"Wow dad! Its smells delicious, I can't wait to tell mom about this recipe!" Inojin responded. Sai could tell he was being sarcastic, because the soup smelt like crap. 'Well he certainly does seem to be taking off after me, a lying little devil' Sai laughed to himself. The soup was done and Sai began pouring two bowls, one for himself and a much smaller one for Inojin. The only way to describe what the soup looked like would be it resembled what Guy sensei would puke up any time he was forced to be on a boat, it certainly smelled similar to that too.

How on earth Ino was able to make breakfast, lunch and dinner daily using ingredients like this Sai would never know. Sure her 'healthy meals' weren't exactly Ichiraku ramen levels of delicious, but they sure were a hell of a lot more delicious compared to what ever monstrosity that vaguely resembled soup that Sai had cooked up this morning.

Sai thought to himself that the only positive that could come out of eating his soup was a greater appreciation of his wife's home cooking. He grimaced as he placed Inojin's bowl on the table in front of him and sat alongside him. The two exchanged glances before picking up their spoons. A moment of hesitation was mutually shared between the both of them before they both gulped and finally placed their spoons deep into the soup and took one giant sip...

 _ **A/N:**_ _Sorry for taking a while to update, the 2_ _nd_ _chapter took me a lot longer than I anticipated and this fic is probably going to be a chapter or two longer than I originally planned. But anyway thank you to everyone who has followed/faved the story so far, I really appreciate it. The next chapter will reveal the effects of Sai's 'soup' and will also involve some fun appearances from a few other Naruto characters. Hope you enjoy!_


End file.
